


Like Sunlight Glinting on Water

by Nightmist



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Cotton Candy Fluff, F/M, Female Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Gift Giving, Overdoing it just a little, Simple and sweet everyday romance, Unnamed Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Valentione's Day, pure fluff, rot your teeth sweet, unspecified race Warrior of Light
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-12
Updated: 2020-02-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:47:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22673530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nightmist/pseuds/Nightmist
Summary: Hien decides to follow an Eorzen custom of showing appreciation for the Warrior of Light and discovers that in his good-natured enthusiasm, he may have achieved slightly more than he bargained for.
Relationships: Hien Rijin/Warrior of Light
Comments: 14
Kudos: 53
Collections: Valentine's Fic Exchange 2020





	Like Sunlight Glinting on Water

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kaymist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaymist/gifts).



> A pure sugar-spun meringue of Hien dessert, based around the prompt of one of the Eorzean men slightly... over doing their Valentione's plans out of cluelessness or enthusiasm. I dearly hope my prompter will appreciate this bit of cuteness and melt in your mouth fluff, because I agonized over it an embarrassing amount. :)

Precisely who originally brought the idea up with Hien is missing from his memory, but he is fairly sure it must have been one of the returned refugees. The notion was not without merit though; Valentione's Day, a holiday to show your gratitude for a person, imported from Ishgard of all places, after traveling through Eorzea. Of course, there was one person in particular that he would want to show gratitude for; the Warrior who had come to fight and inspire his people. Beyond that… Well, if he hoped for a chance to see her smile and relax, what harm was there in that? It had been a hard, if productive year, for everyone and bringing back a little joy was a worthy goal.

He is given to understand that the standard offering is chocolate; acquiring some from Kugane is not terribly difficult, but when it arrives, he finds himself underwhelmed. A box of small brown candies seems a poor choice for thanks. The taste must be exquisite for them to be so popular, but on appearances alone it is thoroughly lackluster. Certainly not worth asking someone as busy as the Warrior to return to Doma to see him for. The better choice seems to be finding something more to add on to improve the experience, or at least make it clear he's not asking her to visit  _ just _ for an excuse to see her.

With worries over the possibilities for gifts and ways to show appreciation for someone's existence weighing on his mind, Hien takes the opportunity to speak with quite a few of his comrades and other residences of Enclave throughout the next few days. Possibly a few more people than he entirely realizes he's been discussing the matter with. While he has never avoided his duties or been without care for them, he does miss the days when it was easy to talk to others companionably, to share cares and joys. Perhaps he indulges in being able to simply  _ talk _ with others more than he intends, out of the pleasure of having something positive to focus on and plan for instead of politics and rebuilding, a topic to discuss that brings smiles and laughter instead of stress.

When the actual day in question arrives, things begin to go off from the original simple plan when Yugiri steps into the room in the enclave he's settled on as an office with a small potted orchid, which she offers to him with one of her eminently restrained smiles. "You spoke of perhaps giving the Warrior some flowers as well. I saw these at the market and felt it was not worth disrupting your duties to have you go fetch something so minor." At that point, he's just thinking it's a sweet, supportive gesture on her part, and is grateful for the small assistance she provides.

Then the matter is repeated in a multitude of forms and he begins to realize just how many  _ small things _ he's been ordering while letting his mind focus on fussing over work. A set of paper lanterns that casts the room into a soft pink and gold glow. A silk fan. A spray of lilies. Several more bouquets of flowers. A cake. A tray of Steppe style poppyseed buns. A basket filled with seasonal and exotic fruits. A hammered silver necklace. By the end of the day, his office looks… frilly. He would definitely say it looks frilly. 

By the hour when his invitation is closing in on due, he accepts the inevitable and detours to pick up a full meal as well. Servants help him lay out rice, lobster, small dishes of pickles and vegetables and other myriad delights, leave a bottle of chilled wine by the low table. When they step out, and the sun is setting, the room looks… Well, he's glad he chose his office, because otherwise, it would look  _ very _ much like he intended a seduction. The lighting is low and warm from candles and the lanterns, vases of flowers line multiple surfaces, the air is rich with the scents of food, and brightly wrapped boxes are stacked near the table.

A voice calls from the hallway. "My lord? She has been spotted arriving at the aetheryte. Are you ready for company?"

Hien is far from certain about being ready, but he answers back, "Of course." In the brief pause, he takes a moment to adjust his ponytail, a small vanity he tries not to let himself be caught in indulging, then straightens his clothes, smoothing over unseen wrinkles. It's not that he's nervous, exactly, he's… Alright. He's nervous. He definitely overplanned this. Letting out a slow breath, he turns to the door, waiting.

He can hear her before he sees her, the lilt of her voice as she greets those she sees on her way, never overlong, but always warm and welcoming. He can hear the light weight of her footsteps. Turning to the door and sliding it open the dark-haired man raises a hand in greeting, smiling widely. "You were able to make it! I did fear that some crisis or another might raise its head and divert you." Her answer is a wry laugh, and she's stepping past him and inside, always graceful, but unusually, clad not for battle but as if she actually trusted his invitation to be an opportunity to relax. Seeing her so at ease in his home puts the tiniest catch in his breath that he quickly covers up.

He watches the Warrior's eyes sweep the room and the way her lips start to turn up at the corner, suppressing outright laughter as she takes in the lighting, the flowers, the gifts, clearly full of warm amusement as she sees the overflowing bounty. "All of this, for me? Seems a bit much, doesn't it?" Unlike what he'd feared, she doesn't seem overwhelmed or worse, uncomfortable, or worse still, insulted. This might be more than he had originally intended and far more obviously affectionate, but like so much else, she takes it in stride and with a good-natured acceptance. Looking at her slight blush, he thinks, it is possibly with more than just acceptance. She looks happy, a warm glow to her eyes that matches the soft heat in her cheeks, her gaze moving from him to the over-the-top scene with a hint of a lingering question in them.

Hien is a brave man, and not one to back down when facing danger or turmoil, or to shy away from daring that others might not. So he gives her his best roguish smile, lifting his bared shoulder in a small shrug. "Perhaps a bit, but I found myself inspired." 

She turns and steps in closer to him, teasing smile gradually widening as she does so. "I'm glad you find me so inspiring, then. If that's all it is?"

"More than just that, if I am being honest." Her nearness and the way she smiles is both empowering and dizzying. Still determined to take risks when the rewards are worthwhile, Hien reaches to lightly encircle her waist with one arm, drawing her all the way in against him and leans til he can press his lips to her own.

He has always thought when he kissed her it would go one of two ways. Either it would be friendly, warm, but brotherly and he would realize his folly, or it would be sweepingly dramatic and romantic, all passion for the ages. Even if most kisses in his experience don't fit either of those, his role has not exactly allowed him to be a great connoisseur and he still has certain… storybook notions, perhaps?

He's so very wrong. He kisses her, and it is like tasting the first sip of a perfect cup of tea, like the second sunlight glints on water and becomes a rainbow, like the wind swirling snowflakes in a perfect whorl. It is a thousand moments of daily, gentle perfection, all the ephemeral scraps that make life quietly worth living. Kissing her is so much sweeter, more ineffably  _ real _ and  _ right _ than some imagined romantic tale or lurid story. It is coming home. It isn't a lack of passion, it's the recognition of the universe suddenly in sync with itself, once more. It is being safe, and warm, happy and laughing, and all the gentle light and heat of a life lived and treasured fully, through well or woe.

When he pulls back, amazed at the rush of emotion, to stare at her face, he can see in those distinctive features that she feels it too, in the way her eyes soften and she is, finally, peaceful and settled, like a bird come to roost at last. "You like it then?"

"I love it. And you." She laughs, full of humor and calm, worries forgotten for the moment, and kisses him again, and Hien can only hope that this is but the first of a thousand thousand perfect memories to follow.

**Author's Note:**

> As always and ever, my dearest thanks to the E-S Bookclub discord ( https://discord.gg/ugKU9mk ) and their inspiration, thirst, and general pure wonderfulness. Valentione's is best for all of you. ;)


End file.
